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The Pink Tartan store will open this fall at 77 Yorkville Ave., at the corner of Bellair St., in the building that houses The Paisley Shop antique store. It was billed as the longest established antique business in Canada, dating to 1926.

“I’ve always loved that building,” says Newport-Mimran, citing the advice of American designer Ralph Lauren who emphasized the importance of retailing a collection’s full story in a suitable environment. Newport-Mimran says that can be challenging when boutiques and department stores only purchase elements of a collection and display it according to their own aesthetic.

“The collection is actually quite large,” she says. She believes the Yorkville location will allow her to display the breadth of the eight-year-old line as it is conceived and nurtured each season. “I love seeing it in its pure form,” she says.

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Her range of experience includes Club Monaco and the short-lived interiors chain Caban. She’s married to Joe Mimran who masterminded the Club Monaco chain before selling it to Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. in 1999. He is also the creative director of five-year-old Joe Fresh Style, a line of fast fashion sold at Loblaws superstores.

Newport-Mimran anticipates her move into retailing will get mixed reactions from the independent retailers and department stores across Canada that carry Pink Tartan, including the Bay on Queen St. The line is also sold at five major department stores in the U.S. including Saks, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s.

Newport-Mimran is confident those stores will continue to support her collection.

Suzanne Timmins, fashion director for Hudson’s Bay Company, was surprised by the news, but said, “I think it’s a good thing. I think it will enhance the brand.” Pink Tartan is available at 18 Bay stores. “We do very well with the collection,” says Timmins.

Newport-Mimran has already contacted design firm Burdifilek to create the store’s interior and transform the formal antique shop to high fashion.

“We’re really at the preliminary stage,” she says, though she confesses a mix of masculine and feminine, hard and soft, “and modern and pretty without being overtly cutesy” is the goal — “just like my designs.”

Newport-Mimran says she’d like to have a store in every major market. What’s next? She says New York.

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